There was a lot of other factors that year. On the 17th April I had what I described as my best session ever on the Oak getting through the throw move twice and was looking forward to improving on that. Unfortunately two days later I set my hand on fire necessitating 15 days off and an assumption that Id blown the Oak. It was another 8 days before I got back on rock and it took 3 sessions to redpoint Sardine which had been a warmup route.
The layoff seemed to sort out a longstanding problem in my left shoulder and with hindsight I think was good for me physically even though it didnt feel like it at the time. Also psychologically it was good to consistently make gains from a very low base thereafter. Looking back at my diary I kept persisting at the Tor bouldering and trying Anger Management and doing quite a lot of fingerboarding as well for about 10 weeks before coming out to Squamish which I think gave me a good base. Obviously I did more variety with you trad climbing, sport climbing and bouldering and learning how to diet! When I got back I started going to Malham from the 15th August mainly so Tom could try Raindogs and over the next few weeks got below 11 stone for the first time and up on the top traverse for the first time getting the all time highpoint on 17th Sept.
In short I think I was already climbing well in the Spring campaign and then the layoff in April actually did me good and the subsequent Tor sessions and interestingly regular fingerboarding and then Squamish all built a great base. I went back to Malham without expectations and with the weight loss was able to make a step change improvement that generated its own motivational momentum.
Since then psychologically I've been on the backfoot trying and failing to match what I've already done even though I'm stronger now. I did a lot of volume this year to build up a good base / more capacity (not just bouldering!) but seem to have overcooked it by the time autumn came round. Assuming I dont get the Oak in the Spring I think this time around I will take it as a lesson that a pre-Summer break will be a good thing before building a base again.
In summary regarding strategy I have attempted to build both bouldering strength and endurance/capacity. The Oak is a bouldery route so an emphasis on the former still makes sense to make the moves easier which is effectively a type of endurance training too. Maybe I should incorporate a bit more endurance trading this winter but I still think bouldering/strength training is the priority. I do intend to switch from max hangs to endurance hangs each month too.
